Instagram is a great social network for your video marketing efforts. For starters, it’s a visual-based platform where pictures and videos are the only type of content you can post.
Even though Instagram started as pictures only, the video options now outnumber the photo options, as you can post videos both on your Newsfeed and on your Story, or tap into the Instagram TV community and post there.
As interest in Facebook has waned over the last few years, Instagram has only grown in popularity – ironically, despite the fact that Facebook owns Instagram. As an advertiser, that last fact is especially useful, as ads you want to create and run on Instagram run through the Facebook Ads Manager, so you have access to the same audience demographic targeting tools you have when running Facebook ads.
All of that is just scratching the surface. There are tons of niche communities, interests, and audiences of popular online influencers to tap into, as well as many more reasons to invest in video on Instagram.
As such, the more important question isn’t why should you post videos on Instagram, but what type of videos should you post?
We’ve got you covered. Here are a handful of our top picks for the best types of videos to post on Instagram.
1. Instagram Stories
Yes, you read that right, and if this seems obvious to you, then you’re on the right track. But there are still many brands that don’t take full advantage of their Instagram Stories to post videos.
We’ll get into more detail about what types of videos to post on your Story, but if you’re one of those brands that’s new to Instagram and either doesn’t understand the value of Stories or isn’t sure how to best utilize them, the short answer is: start experimenting.
Begin by posting short, 15- to 30-second day in the life videos showing off your office and employees at work, or behind the scenes update videos on upcoming products. Short, interesting video snippets like this help to get your account to start showing up on your follower’s Story rotation.
Even a response video where you shout-out a positive comment or lots of likes on a recent photo posted in your feed, it can be worthwhile to begin posting Stories to get in the swing of using this very useful marketing tool.
2. 15-Second Influencer Videos
Partnering with a social media influencer for an influencer video, whether hosting them at your offices for your account or working with them to create a sponsored post for their own account, is a great way to tap into new audiences and attract new viewers. This can also be a good way to add another external marketing touch-point for would-be customers who are already considering your brand, in which case you would want to pick an influencer with a following that aligns with your target audience.
You do need to be mindful about who you partner with, as even some accounts that have tons of followers might not actually have much, if any, influence over their audiences to compel them to try your product.
Then there’s the issue of market oversaturation. For example, if you’re a fashion or beauty company, you’re jumping into a market with a ton of potential collaborators, but also with a ton of competition from other brands.
On the bright side, this community is used to being sold new products and is open to try them, but that means they might be tapped out already.
That being said, there are all kinds of niche communities and people on Instagram, and all kinds of potential influencer collaborators out there.
The best scenario would be to find a highly-qualified influencer partner in your specific industry that specializes in educating their audience as a trusted source of information, and reach out to them to see if a collaboration with your brand, product, or service would be a good fit.
3. Animated Text & Graphical Videos
Instagram lends itself to sharing lots of memes, and as the platform has grown, so has the definition of its content. Now, in addition to photos and videos of fantastic places or delicious food, there are funny or inspirational quotes shared as pictures of text or even pictures of posts from other social media platforms that are shared by tens of thousands every day.
To capitalize on this and save your company some video marketing budget, you should consider sharing animated posts that are primarily animated text and graphics, either narrated by voice-over or by a background soundtrack. These clips can be as short as 10-15 seconds, or as long as a minute.
The best way to use these types of videos is to offer value to your followers. Offer deals, discounts, or flash sales that quite literally flash animated text at the viewer so it’ll stand out in a Newsfeed. These videos can then be boosted with a link back to the sale page on your website.
4. Handheld Selfie Videos
Short videos where a spokesperson or social media rep talks directly to the camera seem to work well for brands on Instagram.
You can use this method to offer tons of value to your audience, like answering questions from your followers in an Instagram Live FAQ video, sharing tips and tricks throughout the day, or curating a unique customer testimonial video by interviewing a satisfied customer live and in-person.
Following the live-interview model of handheld selfie video, these types of videos are great for covering live events, whether it’s an event you’re hosting, or an event your company is attending or speaking.
For example, you could send your social media team to the showroom floor of a big industry convention and let them record their experience and post it on your company’s Instagram Story as live updates throughout the day.
This is especially useful for covering big trending events where a lot of big announcements are happening. Your followers are already looking for coverage and footage from the event floor, so why not have your company contribute to the digital conversation by filming your team’s first-person perspective?
5. Short Clips from Longer Videos
Just because you’re posting videos for Instagram doesn’t mean the videos have to be built specifically for Instagram. Actually, you can use video on Instagram to direct a viewer’s attention to a longer video from another source, like your company’s website or branded YouTube channel.
These hook videos are meant to grab an audience’s attention and send them elsewhere, and can be edited as samples from a longer video.
In the film and entertainment industry, for example, this type of video could be a short version of a longer trailer, a clip from a feature-length episode or movie, or a scene from a sketch where the full version is posted on YouTube.
View this post on InstagramCall your nai nai — @thefarewell trailer is here! Link in bio
A post shared by A24 (@a24) on
News channels can also use this tactic to convince viewers to click to find out the whole story behind a headline, or brands can use these videos to snap them out of the Instagram scroll and invest in a full two- to five-minute informational video on another owned channel.
View this post on InstagramWelcome to David’s very normal retirement party. 🎹 Watch the full #CutForTime at our link in bio!
A post shared by Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) on
6. 30- to 60-Second Tutorial Videos
The short-form tutorial videos on Instagram are probably the most critical type of video your company should create and post on Instagram.
For starters, tutorial videos can transcend any industry, whether it be tutorials for food or drink recipes, make-up, hair, tech, automotive, you name it.
Additionally, audiences are more likely to stop and watch a video that seems new or intriguing to them because it forms a question in their mind – what is being built? What is she making? How do those pieces become that?
These are meant to be short-form tutorials, and because they’re built to be consumed in small portions, are usually sped up or abridged slightly to show the final result in the same video.
The idea isn’t just to show the how-to behind the subject, but to peak their interest to watch a longer tutorial, or check out a specific recipe on your website, or learn more about a specific product and service that looks crazy or exciting at a glance.
If you’re in the travel or hospitality business, for example, showing a supercut of a couple on a fantasy vacation experiencing crazy attractions, or a sped-up tour of an amazing castle or landscape, is a great way to grasp at someone’s interest and get them intrigued enough to find out more.
And these tutorials can be more educational in nature. Videos that are informative and teach viewers about a place, menu, service, or product will engage viewers to want to learn more.
7. Don’t Forget Memes
Memes should need no introduction, but whether you want inspiration or insight into what we mean when we say meme, just check out some of these meme-style videos from some of our top favorite brands:
View this post on Instagram2 minute minor for a reply all email #chubbies
A post shared by Chubbies (@chubbies) on
View this post on InstagramWeird flex but ok. ☀️ Clear your schedule, S’mores returns on April 30! ☀️ [US + Canada]
A post shared by Starbucks Coffee ☕ (@starbucks) on
View this post on InstagramThank you for teaching us @mariekondo #chubbies
A post shared by Chubbies (@chubbies) on
In these instances, they created their own meme-style content as opposed to sharing other memes, which is definitely the way to do it if you’re going to try this tactic. Keep in mind, meme-ification doesn’t fit every brand, so do some soul-searching before you try to meme-ify your semiconductor microchip processing firm. Might not work too well to drum up business.
Bottom Line? Invest in Video on Instagram.
You’re missing a massive opportunity to attract new audiences, engage more viewers, nurture more followers, and delight more customers by not posting video on Instagram.
There are tons more creative ideas like these that you can uncover by experimenting with different video types and tracking your results. You can even mix and match these ideas to create new ones, or combine them all together to see how they play, like a handheld-selfie tutorial video with an influencer partner.
If you want a partner to help you navigate the stormy seas of Instagram video experimentation, we’ll happily jump aboard! Reach out and schedule a call to learn more about how our video packages can help you today.